“Some issues are not about left and right, Republican and Democrat – they’re about our deepest moral values. And we believe that you have to have a campaign, a movement, that seeks to reshape the moral narrative.” — Barber

Barber’s inspiration comes from Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., who headed the first Poor People’s Campaign 50 years ago in the months before his assassination.

“We have to remember that the civil rights movement did not just end. It was assassinated by killing the leaders, it was assassinated through division. Throughout our trips, what we’re finding is there is still a need for that coalition that Dr King talked about in ’68 in coming together to address the evils of racism, militarism, systemic poverty and ecological devastation.” — Barber

Each week, beginning Mondays, the campaign focuses on a different issue; the first two weeks were centered around the rights of those living in poverty and the link that exists between poverty and racism.

The most recent arrests were made as the group focused on “The War Economy” and the escalation of gun violence.

On June 3, the group will stage acts of civil disobedience in response to the next issue: the destruction of our environment and access to healthcare.

To read Iron Triangle Press’s original coverage of this story, click here.